The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-10-12
BRITTLE BONES.
STRANGE PHYSICAL PHENOME-
NON OF \ SAILOR.
Sustaining Fracture After Fracture
The Bones of His Body Little
More Than Dust Held To.
gether by an Oily Fluid.

on Blackwell's Island. The writer says:
Hughes has had an eventful career,
though he has only just begun to climb
into the fftieS he has passed through
enough variety of scenes, pleasures and
hardShips to make decent histories Tor
half dozen men. He was born on New
Bedford whaling ship, and has ever since
trod the deck of vessel OF some sort.
The particular portion of his busy lie
which may he said to throw some light
upon his present disease was that spent
upon little island in the Southern Pa
cifc Ocean. 1t was through no choice OF
his that he visited this island. 1t was
ell the work of one of those terrific cy-
clones that loiter around the Southern
Pacific waiting for something to
run against. 1t struck the ship on
which Hughes was sailing as mate,
and when the vessel turned a double
back action handspring, Hughes was
thrown into the life boat and set adrltt
in the fury of the storm. How long he
was in the boat he has no knowledge,
but he thinks it was several days, and
the first that he remembers was finding
himself upon a sandy beach, with the
sun pouring full upon his upturned face
His clothes were dry, showing that he
had been on shore some time, and his
emaciated form indicated that he had
been days without food. He was much
further inland than the boat. AS soon
as he collected his senses, he crawled to l
sheltered spot in the woodland, which
fortunately was near a spring. After
getting water, then came the search for
food. 1t was dreary hunt, but finally
Hughes found some birds of large size
feeding upon q peculiar vegetable or
plant having a light yellow flower. and
concluded he could stand what the birds
could. He ate freely of this plant, and
soon there followed pleasant sense OF
exhilaration or stimulation. The food
was nourishing and he gained strength.
He made trips over the island, but save
the half sunken timbcrs in the sand that
marked the burial-place of many good
shin there was nothing to show the foot
of human being had ever trod the des-
olate place. He varied his vegetable diet
by killing some of the birds. He built
little hut out of the trees and boughs
and prepared to spend the rest OF his
days on the island.
He had hopes, as is natural to the fol-
lower of the sea, of being rescued some
day. There was ever a chance that q
vessel might be blown his way. In order
that the attention of any passing ship
might be attracted, he fastened his red
shirt every clear day to the top of dead
tree. Days, weeks and months passed,
and never the sign of sail. 1t was
monotonous existence, but it was finally
broken by the appearance of long, black
streak on the horizon. This indicated
that steamer was passing, but would it
come near the island? was the question
that racked the mind of the castaway. 1t
did, and the look-out's eye caught the
waving shirt. The steamer was stopped,
q boat put off to the shore, and Hughes,
crazed with delight, was taken aboard.
The rescued man, aftera few days, recov-
cred the usual tenor of his mind, and
worked his passage on the vessel, which
proved to be an ocean tramp, to France.
The day after the vessel got to France
Hughes shipped on brigantine for New
York. Three days before the vessel got
here Hughes stumbled over stool and
broke his right leg. 1t was bad frac-
ture, and it was thought strange that
such serious result should have followed
so slight cause.
Hughes was taken to the Charity
Hospital when the vessel got to this
port. This was months ago. Both the
tibia and fibula bones in the leg were
found BY Dr. Willetts, the attending sur
geon, to be fractured. After some pre-
iminary treatment, the leg was done up
in plaster of Paris bandagc. 1t was sup
posed that the usual result would follow,
and that in few weeks the patient would
be able to hobble on crutch for while
and then leave the hospital. At the end
of six weeks the upper portion of the
plaster bandage was cut away.
This gave the patient the liberty to
move the leg, and it proved decidedly
unfortunate. The foot and lower part of
the leg being heavy, the patient, in get
ting out of bed, let his leg fall heavily,
and it struck the edge of tie bed in the
middle of the thigh bone, which snapped
as if it were pipe-stem. This fracture
was thought to be due to the weakened
condition of the bone and muscles from
inaction. The pain was so great that
Hughes became delirious, and after his
entire leg had been bandaged he threw
his right arm around wildly, and frac-
tured both the radius and ulna and the
collar bone. These were put up in
plaster. Soon after this the patient to
get relief from the position in which he
had been so long, threw his left leg over
the right quickly, and the shock broke
the thigh bone near the knee.
The last fracture was of such an un.
usual nature that, taken in consideration
with the others, it was thought to dem.
onstrate some defect in the organic struc
ture of the bones. Such case had never
been seen before. In experimenting by
pressure upon the uninjured arm, the
ulna was broken near the wrist. This
led to a practical examination of the
bone. An opening was made in the arm
and piece of bone taken out. 1t was
found to be very fragile and crumblcd
like calcined bone. A chemical ano
microscopical examination showed thai
the disease was an extraordinary case Of
fragilites ossium. The brittleness wa!
caused by an undue proportion Of earthly
matter; and the quantity was so grca
in this case that the bone was, IN some
places, but little more than dust, held
together by an oleaginous fluid. The
bones of the entire body were found tc
be affected. In order to stiffcn the spine